North Kingstown School District Ends Pandemic State Of Emergency

NORTH KINGSTOWN, RI — The North Kingstown School Committee voted unanimously last Tuesday evening to end the Superintendent's Emergency Authority ordinance, which was put in place on March 24, 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, reported The Independent.

The ordinance granted Superintendent Phil Auger additional powers under both state and local emergency declarations. According to School Committee Chairman Greg Blasbalg, the decision is not a reflection of Auger's handling of the pandemic.

“If you think back to sort of our darkest times, we gave the superintendent some emergency authority due to the difficulty in having public meetings and all the uncertainty that was going on at the time,” said Blasbalg. “Thankfully, while we are not out of the woods yet, conditions have certainly improved drastically to the point that I think that emergency authority is no longer necessary because we are able to get together, have public meetings and make any kind of approval that we might need.”

The next and final North Kingstown School Committee meeting of the school year is scheduled for June 22 at 7 p.m. in the high school auditorium.